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Graylag Goose
The humble goose is venerated in art and poetry.
© Steve Harris / FCC
The goose of today’s farmyards was domesticated about 3,000 years ago from the Graylag Goose, the wild species found today throughout much of Europe and Asia. To ancient Egyptians, the goose symbolized the sun god Ra. Greeks linked the goose with Aphrodite, the goddess of love. And geese are prominently featured in the Shijing, the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry.
This show brought to you by the Bobolink Foundation.
BirdNote®
Graylag Goose
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote.
[Graylag Goose, ML 303991, 0:10-0:14]
Is any bird more ordinary, more unlikely to draw praise, than a barnyard goose honking and waddling about the farm?
The humble goose once had a much higher profile. To ancient Egyptians, the goose symbolized the sun god Ra. Greeks linked the goose with Aphrodite, the goddess of love. And geese are prominently featured in the Shijing, the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, which dates from the 11th to the 7th century BC.
[Graylag Goose, ML 233387, 0:02-0:04]
The goose of today’s farmyards was domesticated about 3,000 years ago from the Graylag Goose, the wild goose species still found today throughout much of Europe and Asia.
Graylag Geese are a soft, grayish brown with pink legs, an orange bill, and a stout body. They occupy open habitats such as farmlands, lagoons and swamps. Most breed in northern latitudes across the two continents and winter to the south, some as far as North Africa and India.
[Graylag Goose, ML 233387, 0:02-0:04]
Today, the Graylag and its domestic descendants are more likely to be celebrated as the main course of a holiday feast than worshipped or exalted in poetry.
[Graylag Goose ML 37827931]
But there’s no denying their prominent role in human history.
For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann.
Today’s show brought to you by the Bobolink Foundation.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Graylag Goose ML 303991 recorded by P. Boesman, Graylag Goose ML 233387 recorded by B. McGuire, and Graylag Goose ML 37827931 recorded by J. Graham.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2021 BirdNote December 2021/2023 Narrator: Mary McCann
ID# ANSANS-01-2021-12-23 ANSANS-01
Bob Sundstrom
Writer